Well, following on from this thread I went up to the wilds of Herefordshire yesterday for an interview and liked what I saw and it appears that they were reasonably impressed as they’ve sent an email already to ask about a second interview. This now brings the reality home to the OH that it might not just be a dream of living in the country any more and the fear of upping sticks has set in her a bit deeper. My thoughts are along the lines of if it does happen we can try the (sort of) long distance and see each other at weekends either in London or over there and look for a job in the meantime.

Anyway, the closest town/city to the place is Hereford, but Worcester, Great Malvern and Gloucester are within ok driving commute as are Kidderminster and (God forbid) Birmingham outskirts. A couple of questions then,
1. What is Hereford like for living and similar for the areas around, we’re both late 20’s (though I’m nearly at the dreaded 30) so potential for similar age would be handy to make some new friends (aw, fwend, new fwend!) in the area
2. What’s the job market in the areas like for office work and more of a random thought/dream for OH, working with animals? OH currently works civil service working on immigration/deportation decisions but is worried that she’ll find it hard to find something out there without a degree, though she’s currently working towards an OU degree so I reckon that will put her in good stead.

Hmm, I seem to have gone on a bit but my head is spinning a bit with the speed of all this so just writing as I think really. Sorry for that but as last time, all thoughts are very welcome.

Where’s the job based? I know the area relatively well.

It’s about 10 miles from Hereford and 20 miles from Worcester, don’t really want to say too much as it would be quite easy to work out and I don’t want to give away too much before anything has been decided! If you know the area well you’ll probably guess anyway!

Some thoughts from me, all in my opinion as a resident current of Worcester and having grown up in Kiddy:

The transport links to the rest of the world from Worcester / Droitwich / Bromsgrove are good: M5 North and South, Rail links North to Birmingham and East to Oxford/London from Worcester, but rail is crap for South towards Bristol. Kiddy isn’t so great as there’s quite a distance to go to get on the M5 and the trains to Birmingham are fairly slow.

Once you cross the Severn, the transport links deteriorate badly (road traffic is channelled over a few narrow crossings, the train depot is at Worcester so the trains terminate there often and the last trains beyond there are relatively early etc.)

If your other half is travelling to meet you at the weekend, then I think you need to account for the above.

As for working with animals, I reckon there’s a fair opportunity in the area for equine related employment as there’s quite a community of horse fanatics (although she’ll have to be ‘hunt friendly’ if you see what I mean). Natural England have offices in Worcester as well, so sort of civil service-ish and working with nature.

Herefordshire is quite different from worcestershire.

The above comment about the trains and transport links is partially correct…

It’s worth remebering that often the direct routes via Worcester and Gloucester are not the quickest….

theres also the railway line from newport which is v handy….. + its often quicker if your heading to the south east to go Via abergaveny / newport …as the roads are far better (not all 50mph and lower…)

Hereford is no Metropolis (my home town)if your after a great nightlife then its not for you… (however that applies for the marches and west mids generally…..)

not a bad place for kids upto the age of about 12 not a lot to do …although the Grid project will add lots of new retail new cinema etc

Salaries tend to be relatively low… and travel times are high to other areas of employment……

Bike shops recommend …Coombes Cycles ….
Master craft are v old fashioned …. but ok
and I can’t find anything positive to say about Climb On Bikes…….

oops forgot to say traffic can be dire from the Belmont side of town….

lots of trails … easy access to Black mountains … would like to live there again …. but its too far from work for me….

ps I’d start thread nr 3 …with Hereford in the title as you’ll get more relavent responses

Congrats on the 2nd interview…

Anyway… I’ve said a fair bit about Worcester in your first thread. It’s no sprawling metropolis, but by contrast, Hereford is like a small town! It’s a lovely place for the right people, but it’ll feel like you’ve gone back in time 20-30 years. I did some promotional work in the PC World in Hereford last summer, and it would be fair to say I dealt with a significant percentage more of first time computer buyers (and illiterate people) than I have done elsewhere! Nothing wrong with the place, but it’s very much still a town in the middle of Farming country. Might be perfect if your missus wants to work with animals though.

Worcester is more modern, and closer to the rest of the UK too, and has pretty decent transport links (except across the Severn). I will stress that if you choose to live in Worcester, for heaven’s sake please live on the Malvern/Hereford side of the river, cos if you don’t, you will have a nightmare getting to work in the morning having to cross the river!

Hereford is closer to the Black Mountains and more “proper” Mountain Biking. Though Worcester has the Malverns and Wyre Forest within a short drive, and the Forest of Dean is under an hour away and Cannock just over an hour.

one other thing about Herefordshire, it’s unlikely that they’ll spend their time being judgemental… like the other side of the border…..

Cheers for the thoughts all, T1000, no need to worry about folks being judgemental, I’m from Yorkshire originally so I know I’m better than most already!

Think it’s going to be a bit more convincing and planning a weekend out there to see how we like it for a bit more than a flying visit for an interview. On that note, can anyone recommend a good, reasonably priced hotel, either Worcester or Hereford based (or anywhere else with a nice pub nearby to spend the evenings) for us to check out the area?

I’ve not stopped in any hotels there other than the Castle house
Don’t bother with the Green Dragon, three counties, alberta, pilgrim or aylestone in Hereford ….

Castlehouse is nice but not reasonably priced……

however I think the Green man at Fownhope is worth a visit

http://www.thegreenman.co/

I always loved this place for character (although this is out in the wilds….)

http://www.suninn-leintwardine.co.uk/

if you like the countryside villages like Pembridge, Eardisland and Eardisley are worth a visit the countryside